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Maria Miller, the Tory MP, last night accused Parliament of a conflict of interest over Britain's MeToo scandal after it emerged she had been blocked from questioning the Government over it.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, yesterday refused to allow Ms Miller, who chairs the women & equalities Commons select committee, to ask an urgent question on the use of gagging clauses by the wealthy and powerful, including the Topshop tycoon Sir Philip Green.

Helen Jones, chairman of the petitions select committee, also rejected calls to allow a parliamentary debate on non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) after two separate petitions demanding a change to the law between them secured 250,000 signatures. It came as Topshop was forced to cancel a launch party for its latest collection after designer Michael Halpern pulled out.

Ms Miller declined to comment on Mr Bercow's refusal but, writing for The Daily Telegraph, highlighted the Commons' own use of NDAs, on which it spent £2.4million between 2013 and 2017. "Perhaps Parliament would be better placed to challenge this abuse of the law if it weren't also caught up in the use of NDAs," she argued.

"There have been more than 50 severance agreements, most including confidentially clauses, relating to House of Commons staff alone over the past five years." Last week, Ms Miller called on Mr Bercow to resign over a report into bullying in the Commons, something he himself has been accused of. Andrew Bridgen, one of Mr Bercow's most vocal critics, said: "He should recuse himself from any further participation in the House's response to the culture change required. In fact, the best thing he can do is stand down as Speaker."

A spokesman for Mr Bercow, who has denied bullying or any knowledge of pay-offs to alleged victims, said "it might be thought premature" to grant an urgent question on NDAs given the Government's response to Ms Miller's committee's report on misconduct in the workplace was expected shortly.

Ms Jones said her committee "would love" an NDAs debate but could not sanction it unless a petition was lodged on Parliament's website. The impact of the scandal on Sir Philip's retail empire began to emerge last night after Mr Halpern withdrew from a launch party for his line. He is understood to have felt unable to attend after Sir Philip was named as the businessman behind an injunction preventing The Telegraph publishing allegations against him of sexual harassment and racial discrimination. A fashion insider said: "His brand is about female empowerment. That's his ethos. He couldn't go ahead with this, it wouldn't be a good look. It would be awkward. I can't imagine celebrities would want to be associated with Philip Green. He's in a tricky situation." Arcadia did not respond to a request for comment.